Method of inseaming shoes.



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W. l. RYAN -6L F. P. AYER.

METHOD 0F INSEAMING SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. I4. I9I4,

Patented Aug. 27, v1918.

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' Figure l is a plan viewof the STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM IRVING RYAN .AND FERNANDO l. AYER, OFMAN'CHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE,

ASSIGNORS TO W. H. IVIGELWAIN CQMFANY, QF'BQSTON@ MASSACHUSETTS, .A CORPO- BATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF INSEAMING SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Allg. 27,1918.

Application led November 14, 1914. Serial No. 872,230.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we,WiLL1AM IRVING RYAN and FERNANDO P. AYER, of Manchester, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and usefulv Improvements in Methods of Inseaming Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a step in the operation of shoe making and has reference particularly to that part of such operation which consists in joining the upper, inner-sole and welt of a welt shoe after the upper' has been lasted, this step being technically known as .inseaming.

In .order to explain our invention most readily, it may be well to state that in the process of making welt shoes, now eXtensively used, known astlie Goodyear process, the step following the lasting of the'sides of the upper is to place a wire around the gathered-in edge of lthe upper at the toe running from a point near the seam of Y the cap or tip at one side of theshoe bottom to a corresponding point at the other side, and to secure the ends of this wire by means of anchor tacks which are driven into the innersole through the upper and' remain in the shoe eitherpermanently or at least until after the inseaming operation by which the welt andthe upper and the innersole are sewed together. Our ob-L ject is to improve and modify the steps of shoe making in such a way kthat the toe wire and anchor tacks above referred to may be removed before carrying out the inseaming step, so that certain advantages V may be secured and certain objectionable effects obviated, as pointed out more at length in the following specification.

Brieiy stated, the principal feature of our invention consists in binding or securing the toe part of the lasted'upper in place by means of a plastic composition and then removing the anchor tacks and toe wire, the upper beingproperly retainedpin lasted condition by means of the plastic composition referi-ed'to, and then applying thewelt and sewing the inseam., j v 1 i In the accompanying drawings,-

shoey showing the condition vof, the shoe after lasting with the aid of a toe wire.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the con bottom fa dition after adhesive has beenapplied to the gathered edges of the upper and the toe wire removed.

Fig. 3 is a similar View of the shoe after the inseaming operation has been completed following our improved method;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating;v the stepy of applying plastic composition to the edge lof a lasted upper at the toe part thereof, and illustrating also a suitable', form of apparatus which may be used in' carrying out this step.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the bottom of a shoe on which the inseaming operation has been carried out in the old manner, illustrat# Y same parts'in all ofthe figures.

Referring to the drawings which show a Y lasted shoe in bottom plan view,-a represents the innersole, bf represents the lasted upper, and c represents the yedges lof the Y Y upper, lining and box toe or stiiener in a manner such as to illustrate conventionally the way in which Vsuch edges are gathered in at the bottom of the shoe adj acentto the toe thereof.V Z represents the vretaining wire or tape, which is commonly called the toe wire and which is passed about the toepart of the shoe close to the bottom thereof and outside of the edges c' of the upper. In the n following description, the wire of tape' al will be referred to by the term toe Wire for the purposes of description and without any limiting signicancee. e represents the4r anchor tacks by which the ends of the'toe wire' are secured at points suiiiciently'far'` removed from the tip of Vthe shoe for the required purpose. The use of a toe wire for the purpose described and the manner of its'y attachment as shown in Fig. l, being wellknown and understood, there is no need c 2for ajdetailed description of the same here,

particularly as our invention doesnoty in- Y volveV any change in the method ofV applyingA @the toe Vwire and anchor tacksor in the function of such wire and tacks. f, f, f represent' the' tacks which are applied during the lasting operation for temporarily holding the Lipper at t-he sides of the slice until the toe is lasted, these tacks being drawn after the completion of the lasting operation and before the inseaming operation, being replaced by two side tacks g as shown Vin Fig. 2; l

Heretofore in making weltshoes, it has been the practice to attach the welt and stitch the inseam while the Oc wire and anchor tacks remain in place in the position shown in Fig. 1. The use ofthe t0@ wire is of advantage in that it makes it nnnecesn sary to put a large number ci" tacks around the ,toe of the shoe to keep the upper :from pulling away after being Ilasted yand before sewing on the welt, but the `wire and the anchor tacks yhave been the cause of much diliiculty in the operation of sewing on'the welt on account ,of the liability of being struck fby the needle of the scwing machine and the necessity von the part ,of the ,operator of such machineV to endeavor to avoid the wire and tacks when Istitching on the welt. Under the .best lCircumstances, the necessity of dodging ,the anchor tacks in sewing the inseam vcaused the seam to be lmore or less uneven, either crooked, high ,or low. `The effect on the seam, caused by the presence of the anchor tacks, is illustrated in'Fig 5 where a welt It is shown secured to the shoe by a seam z', The displacement of the inner edge of the welt, caused by the pres ence of the Aanchor tacks, l and the uneven or crooked character .ofthe seam occasioned the l.el'ort to avoid A the anchor tacks is indicated by the offsets at Ic. As the inseam is a fundamental of the linished shoe which is depended on as a guide in the subsequent steps of bottoming' and finishing'the shoe, any unevenness in the inseam or any error in its location has an ef- Vect of impairing the lit and ,appearance of the slice.` i r In case the .operator or" the inseam stitching machine does not succeed inavoiding the wire and anchor tacks, needles are broken; 'the welting, upper and innersole are frequently lamaged; and there yis in-y creased cost in the manufacture dile to the labor `of resewing and the loss of time consequent upon stopping in the middle of theV seam to go back and rescW or set a new necdle, andthere is of course the item of the cost of additional thread and new needles to replace the broken ones. By ourimproved method, after the upper has been lastedA and the toe wire secured asabove described, a plastic binding substance isv applied to the Igatheredrin edges of the upper at the toe end forthe purpose Yof v:holding `the Vupper in thcdlasted condition and making unnecessary the retention in place .of the toe wireior that purpose..- Any oneof Amany compositions maybe used for this purpose, it being suiiicient that the composition should be fluid or semi-fluid iD ,clic Condition .of temperature and should be solid and relatively l-igid in .another condition or state, Without limiting .the invention to the use of any particular plastic composition, we may say that we have used with success a waxy composition made of paraiiin, rosin and cinnabar waX. Preferably we use a mixture consisting of three parts paraffin and one part rosin. However, any substance which wilib liquid or semi-liquid when hot and will harden when cold V'is within the contemplation of this feature of our invention, and so also will any Lsuhstance which is fluid when wet or moist and hard when ,dry. The plastic substance or composition, having the characteristics above indicated, is applied upon Iand .Mound the gatheredein edges of the toe part of the upper in auch a way and in such quantities that, after hardening, Vit will OVGICOliic the tendency of the material of which the upper is made t0 depart from the .Condition 01' form given to .it bv the lasting operation, so that the upper will retain such form even after Ythe toe wire has been removed.: It might be stated Yat this point that'any inateral, having Such cohesive or ,aiilliesive properties as to secure this elect, may be used Wit-hin the .-.iuvew of this invention and Within thescopc the appended claims in carrying the invention into effect. fitter the composition referred t0 been applied andallowe'd to set or harden to the necessary degree, and after the anchor tacks and ytoerwire have Vbeen removecl the welt is sewed,v at the inseam in the usual manner or in any other V(,:lesired way.

The successive steps are shown in Figs. l, 6,2, and. 3, respectively; Fig. l representing the 'shoe bottom' before application ,ofthe plastic composition; Fig. 6 showing the con? dition after'application of the composition plication of the weltand stitchingof the in'- p seam.

the plastic composition may be applied, and

Fig. 4 yillustrates an apparatus 'by which also illustrates the step` of applying such l composition. This apparatus comprises a tank Zv containing the plastic composition, which `is heated taiikfand thereby retained in the fluid state- A delivering roll n dips .nto'the Plast-Ecomposition alld is rotated hyany desired means, The `slices. are ,held against the side of that part of the roll which rises above the plat-ic .l .material and are moved back and Aforth ,as

may be necessary to 'apply the substance by .a Steam Acoil 11i in the.,

@the desired points, the moving roll than, raising the material from the tank and de- "postiiigit 91.1 the politicas 'ofthe shoe which come into contact with the roll. In applying the composition as above indicated', the projecting edges of the upper material beside the stitching rib of the innersole, and also the rib itself are laid on the applying roll, so that the composition is applied to these parts only of the shoe. The fluid composition penetrates the spaces between the folds or gathers of the upper, and enters c the body of such parts thereof as may be absorptiv'e, particularly the woven fabric lining material. It may also be applied in a body on the outer side of the ygathered edges and in the groove made by the toe wire, although not necessarily, and generally sufficient stiffness is given by the composition whenapplied to impregnate and fill the interstices of thematerial, without coating the outer surface of the upper leather. Thether the composition, upon hardening, stiifens the upper material by impregnating the same, or by coating and incasing it is not important to the invention here claimed, the essential feature of which is thatvthe composition stiffens and holds said gathered edges in place after the toe wire has been removed. Consequently in the claims hereto annexed, such terms as covering, surrounding, enveloping, and words of similar import are intended to mean coating, covering, or impregnating parts of the edges referred to, or of the material thereof, to the extent that the results described will be accomplished; and said terms, as here used, have no further limiting significance. Any other suitable mode of and means for applying the plastic material may be used within the scope of our invention.

It is evident that, as the toe wire and anchor tacks are not in the shoe when the welt is stitched to the inseam, the objectionable effects, occasioned by the toe wire and anchor tacks, are avoided, with the result that the operator of the sewing machine, is enabled to run the seam in the desired location without deviation from the smooth and even line which is so desirable. The operator, being spared the need for taking care to avoid the anchor tacks, can run the seam more rapidly than heretofore, and there is of course no danger of breaking the needle or of damagingany part of theshoe from the causes arising as heretofore explained as a result of retaining the anchor tacks in the shoe.

Among the advantages resulting from our improvement hereinbefore described may be named the following z-decrea'sed labor in the welting operation; increased production; greater accuracy and positiveness of results in sewing on welts; decreased costVA due to spoiling the welting'; decreased cost for thread; decreased cost of innersoles spoiled in the process of sewing on the welt;

decreased loss of time; reduced costs of lasts due tothe fact that shoes can be sent to the inseaming Voperation sooner after lasting than heretofore; a saving in the amount of leather used, for a narrower welt can be used because the inseam can be made more even and it is unnecessary to have the welt wide Y enough to allow for crooked and otherwise ying such edges in place by application thereto of a coating of plastic, composition which hasnthe property of becoming hard with lapse of time and is penetrable by the needle of a sewing machine.

' 2. yThat improvement in shoe making which consists in applying to the edge of the toe part of a lasted upper, after the same has been bound in such condition by a toe wire, a plastic substance having suicient firmness after it has become set to retain the upper in that condition, and removing the toe wire and the anchoring .means for the same before proceeding with the subsequent steps of the shoe making processes.

3. The new method of shoe making which consists in lasting the upper, binding the toe part of the upper by means of a wire passed about the gathered-in edge of such toe part and securing said wire by anchor tacks to the shoe, covering and surrounding such gathered edge with a plastic substance, removing the anchor tacks and wire, and stitching a welt to the upper and innersole.

4. The improvement in shoe making which consists in la sting and gathering in the toe part of the shoe upper so that the edges of such partl project away from the bottom of the last, enveloping the gathered edges of the upper at the bottom of the shoe in a plastic substance which has the property of hardening or setting into a suiiciently rigid condition to retain such edges in the position given them in lasting, and thenl bottom, ina plastic,v substance which has the property Vof hardening after application, and removing said temporary retainingY means.,

6.V The improvement in shoe making which consists in lasting the upper, apply* ing a temporary retainer to the toe part of the upper at the bottom of the shoe to hold Vsuch part in the lasted shape, applying a 4body of heated composition which is plastic whenr heated and has snicient firmness when cool to resist the vtendency of the upper toy withdraw from the lasted shape to the edge of such toe part and in the space between said edge and the shoe bottom, allowing such composition Ato `COol and harden, and removing the temporary retainer.

7. The improvement in the method of shoemaking which consists in lasting a shoe and at the same time so gathering the toe part of the shoe upper that the edge of suchpart projects outwardly from the bottom ofthe last, enveloping said gathered edges in a plastic composition which has the property oit' becoming hard vafter lapse of time, and passing stitches through such edge of the upper, the rib of an innersole, and the edge of a welt, to form the inseam of the shoe.

8. The improvement in shoemaking which consists in lasting a shoe and gathering the toe part of the upper about the toe or the last in such manner that the edges of the upper project away from the bottom of the last, enveloping such edges at the toe part in a heated plastic composition which has the property of hardening when cool, and iinally stitching or sewing the inseam of the Shoe through the. edges of the upper, including the portion thereof thus enveloped in such composition.

In testimony whereof We have affixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WV. IRVING RYAN. FERNANDO P. AYER. lVtnesses Linen A. THOMPSON, ASA J. FARNHAM.

Copies of -tliis'patent `may be obtained for `five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washingtomnc. 

